The Women in White by Sarah Pekkanen

From Sarah Pekkanen, comes a stunning new novel of buried secrets, mind-bending history, and one woman’s search for the truth . . .

Decades ago, four women at prestigious Marquis University were the focus of parapsychology experiments led by a pioneering researcher. Just as they seemed on the verge of a real breakthrough, the four women vanished and the program was abruptly shut down.

In the present day, Riley Bell is desperate for a new life when she lands a caretaker job for Betty Sadler—an elderly, wheelchair bound woman whose house seems suspended in time. No television. No microwave. And Betty has never even heard of a cell phone.

Newly widowed, Betty discovers notes in her late husband’s papers that spark her quest to answer one final unanswered mystery that has shadowed her for six what happened to her three best friends who disappeared on the same day?

Told in dual timelines, as Betty’s world of 5 o’clock martinis and increasingly rigorous experiments converges with Riley’s present-day search for the other three women, the danger and intensity grow white hot.

Because whatever was swirling around these four exceptional young women is rising again.

Kindle Edition, 352 pages

Expected publication August 4, 2026

 by St. Martin's Press

4/5 stars

This was my first time reading Sarah Pekkanen, I enjoyed the experience enough that I will be looking into more of her work. 

This unique premise story moved between two timelines. In 1964, four young women become the subjects of parapsychology experiments.  It's part of a program that mysteriously vanishes from history along with the women themselves. In the present day there is Riley Bell,  newly divorced and looking for a fresh start.  She takes a caretaker job for an elderly widow named Betty.  Betty has lived in near total isolation for decades.  Red flags right there!

Blending a decades old mystery with paranormal elements is not something I come across often and Pekkanen pulls it off well. The dual timeline is one of my favorites and this one kept me engaged as I slowly connected the dots between what happened to those women in the sixties and why Betty has spent so many years hidden away from the world.

The Women in White is  a twisty, original read that stood out from the usual dual timeline books I've read.

My thanks to St. Martin's Press (via Netgalley) for a digital ARC in exchange for a honest review.

The Best of Us by Sarah Pekkanen

Paradise isn’t quite what it seems as four college friends meet for an island vacation in this captivating new novel from the acclaimed author of These Girls.

Following a once-in-a-lifetime invitation, a group of old college friends leap at the chance to bring their husbands for a week’s vacation at a private villa in Jamaica to celebrate a former classmates' thirty-fifth birthday.

All four women are desperate for a break and this seems like a perfect opportunity. Tina is drowning under the demands of mothering four young children. Allie needs to escape from the shattering news about an illness that runs in her family. Savannah is carrying the secret of her husband’s infidelity. And, finally, there’s Pauline, who spares no expense to throw her husband an unforgettable birthday celebration, hoping it will gloss over the cracks that have already formed in their new marriage.

The week begins idyllically, filled with languorous days and late nights of drinking and laughter. But as a hurricane approaches the island, turmoil builds, forcing each woman to re-evaluate everything she’s known about the others—and herself. 

 

Paperback, 338 pages

Published April 9th 2013 by Washington Square Press

ebook via netgalley

*** (I liked it)

 

The Best of Us is perfect for the beach, something lite to pick up and easy to put down again. At times I struggled to pick up but there was something in that book that had me a little bit curious to find out what was going on.  Though each of the different story lines were interesting I had a hard time connecting with these 4 women.  Each of them had their own issues and that I could understand, the author created unique situations for each of them and they were all very plausible.  But I just found I found it lacked the depth that I enjoy, that chance to really get inside the characters and see what made them tick.  

This was a quick read and my first novel by this author, I will most likely read another of Sarah Pekkanen's books.